This is the story of an extraordinary man--a driving, dynamo of a man who needed only a few hours a night of sleep, who made friends easily and remained fiercely loyal to them, a man who was able to hold large crowds captive with his oratory, a man who evoked both worship and loathing. It is the story of an illiterate peasant's son, largely self-educated, who became a powerful force in the Congo's struggle for independence from Belgium, who was chosen his country's first Prime Minister, and whose eloquence and courage made him a figure of world renown.

It is the story of a man who was martyred by the many forces at war in his new nation, a man who at the age of 35 was brutally murdered by political rivals but whose name has become a symbol of liberty throughout Africa. A man who dreamed that someday the Congo would be ruled "not by the peace of guns and bayonets but by a peace of the heart and of the will."—Publisher, Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Introduction

Patrice Lumumba's place in African history is in several ways unique. Few leaders rose to international prominence so rapidly and so dramatically. The passions he aroused--among both his supporters and his detractors--were probably unrivaled by any other leader. To some he was the ideal of a nationalist hero; to others he was a cruel, unprincipled opportunist. The crisis through which the Democratic Republic of the Congo passed when he was its Prime Minister not only changed the course of its history, but also that of all Africa and even the whole world.

Lumumba first achieved prominence by leading the largest Congolese nationalist political party and then, in June 1960, becoming the country's first Prime Minister. Unlike many other African leaders who took up the reigns of government after their countries achieved independence, Lumumba had not been able to forge a single and united nationalist movement.

There were over fifteen significant political parties in the Congo, and their leaders were naturally in competition with one another. Thus, in order to obtain a vote of confidence from the newly elected parliament Lumumba had to make many compromises and to take leaders of many other parties into his cabinet. All this meant, that, although he was the outstanding leader, he did not have, nor could he expect to have, complete authority or tight control over political affairs during the difficult early days of independence.

But the problems Lumumba faced in parliament and in the cabinet were small when compared with the mutiny which broke out among the soldiers of the Congolese army only a few days after independence was proclaimed. In quick succession, this was followed by a complete breakdown of public security, the rapid departure of most of the white residents of the Congo, the return of the Belgian troops, serious attempts of secession by some of the most wealthy regions of the country, massive interference in the Congo's internal affairs by foreign powers, and finally the arrival of the United Nations "police force."

In the countryside the mutinous troops molested the civilian population (both black and white), looted and destroyed property, and threatened to reduce the country to a state of total chaos. In many places civil administration broke down, and in some, rival ethnic or political factions fought each other, resulting in considerable casualties.

Looking back, it seems absurd that anyone expected Lumumba and the other leaders of the Congo Government to find a way which would rapidly put the whole situation right. he was caught between forces he could not control. At first he tried to order the soldiers to return to discipline. When this not did not work but caused many of them to look upon him as an opponent, he tried to appease them by giving promotions and sending white officers home.

When the Belgian troops returned, he tried to rally nationalistic discipline, but at the same time he entered into negotiations with Belgian representatives for a temporary presence of Belgian troops so that order could be restored. The Congo Government also invited the United Nations to send troops to the Congo so that order could be reestablished and so that the national unity could be preserved.

But in the summer of 1960 the UN did little to counteract the secession of Katanga and other regions. When his appeals to the West and to the UN for effective help to end secession went unheard, Lumumba tried to obtain help from other African states and from the Soviet Union. But this in turn gained him little more than the distrust and opposition of Western states who throughout this period maintained a great deal of influence in the Congo.

On another level, one of Lumumba's greatest handicaps was the fact that even in the face of all these problems the Congolese were not really united. Personality conflicts and ideological conflicts among the leaders, ethnic and regional divisions, meant that Lumumba had to worry as much about patching up the unity of his government as about mutiny, order, secession, and foreign interference.

These stresses soon created a rift between Lumumba and President Kasavubu, and the result was that he was dismissed as Prime Minister in September, a little over two months after he had attained that position. For a while he contested this decision, but the political situation both inside the Congo and internationally turned more and more against him.

In the end his personal safety was increasingly threatened in Leopoldville (today Kinshasha) and he, therefore, tried to escape to the northeast of the country where his strongest support has always been located. In a sequence of events full of drama and pathos he was caught and imprisoned by the Congolese army and later turned over to his worst enemies and put to death.

One of the strange things about Lumumba's career is how he has been pictured in different parts of the world. In the West, he has the reputation of having been something of a "devil." There are probably two reasons for this. First, he was, as he said himself, willing to deal with anyone, and when this included the Soviet Union it gained him the usual antagonism. But this alone does not go anywhere near enough to explaining the really passionate anger he aroused.

The second reason may be more important. Up to 1960, up to the Congo's achievement of independence, the African nationalist movement had developed and gained its objectives, with few exceptions, in a generally orderly and peaceful manner. Then came the Congo with its chaos and a Prime Minister who, despite his frequent powerlessness, was unwilling to let the UN or other outside forces take over the leadership of the country. He was blamed for the chaos and for not taking "good advice."

Later, the world began to understand that when a society goes through a crisis like the one which had occurred in the Congo it takes more than the proper orders by its leaders to put things right again. Some of Lumumba's successors took a lot of advice, and some of them were positively pro-Western, but conditions in the Congo were often worse than they were under Lumumba.

There were times when the army harassed more civilians, there was more chaos and fighting, and there was more bloodshed. Furthermore, in other parts of Africa many of the problems which the Congo faced in its first days of independence later made their appearance and it was seen that other leaders were also had put to deal with them.

Thus, those who followed Lumumba received a far more sympathetic hearing, were treated with more sympathy, than he had been.

* * * * *

Robin McKown's biography of Lumumba has performed a double service. first, here is a comprehensive Western study which is sympathetic to Lumumba. This is something which needed to be done. Second, it is the only complete biography of Lumumba presently in existence. The latter part of his life has of course been discussed in many places, but Robin McKown has also researched the early period, which is important if one is to start understanding this extraordinary man. No doubt Lumumba will remain a controversial figure, but his book will hopefully help to balance what is known and thought about him.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is more than three times the size of Texas and nearly eighty times the size of Belgium, which controlled its destiny for over seventy-five years.

Within its boundaries are jungles, snowy peaks, volcanic mountains, enormous lakes, deep grottoes, and weird savanna landscapes of anthills and baobab trees. The Congo River, with its tributaries, lays a mesh of waterways across the land. The river of fiction and legend, 2700 miles long and shaped like a giant question mark, begins as a tiny stream in the south-central African highlands, flows north over rapids and waterfalls and through grassy savannas and woodlands, arcs westward, moves with a wide and majestic flow through green equatorial forests, and turns into a wild and raging torrent as it cuts into the Crystal Mountains on the last lap of its journey to the Atlantic Ocean.

It has been estimated that, with proper cultivation, enough foodstuff could be raised on the Congo's arable land to feed all of Africa.

The underground wealth of the Congo is fabulous: gold in the mountains of Kivu; industrial diamonds in southern Kasai (more than 75 percent of the world's supply); bauxite, a basic element in aluminum production, in the Lower Congo; and in Katanga in the savanna country, copper, cobalt, uranium, tin, zinc, silver, tungsten, radium, along with lesser-known elements invaluable in modern technology: bismuth, manganese, beryllium, germanium.

For untold millenniums these vast treasures lay hidden awaiting the skills needed to exploit them. They could have served to build a civilizations of unrivaled splendor; instead, they would prove the Congo's curse.

Patrice Lumumba was born in the Congo and grew up in it. Its tragic history was his heritage. To understand Lumumba, what he was and what he became, a glimpse at this history is a prerequisite.

There was a time when the Congo belonged wholly to the animal kingdom. Vast herds of elephants roamed across it. Thousands of ungainly hippopotami bathed in the river waters. Leopards, lions, antelope, will boars, giraffes, cheetahs, zebras, the shy okapi, the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros, lived tranquilly or ferociously, in accord with their natures.

Gorillas chose haunts in the mountain forest. Monkeys chattered noisily in the trees at the brilliant feathered birds overhead. Butterflies fluttered in clouds of color, their hues matching the pastel shades of marshland flowers. the animals are still in the Congo, though in far lesser numbers; it is definitely no longer their country.

The first known human habitants were the Pygmies--tiny, industrious, cheerful people who dwelt in the rain forests and lived on roots and grubs and whatever else they could find to eat. They shot game with bows and arrows dipped in poison for which they alone knew the antidote. When the food supply gave out in one place, they moved somewhere else, cleared ground and built new homes from pliable branches and leaves. The Pygmies are still in the Congo too; they have steadfastly resisted all attempts to make them conform to modernity.

The black people, the Bantu, began migrating to the Congo some 2500 years ago. No one knows just why, though there is a theory that they left the Sahara region as it turned into a desert. Among them were Lumumba's ancestors. These black people, who are actually dark brown, make up the majority of the modern Congolese. The Hamites, also dark-skinned, arrived later from the neighborhood of Ethiopia. They include the Batutsi, the tallest people in the world, who settled down on the high eastern rim of the Congo basin.

The immigrants developed the art of forging iron axes, spears, and hoes. They built homes of strong vines or mud bricks, which they sometimes decorated with handsome geometric patterns. They became farmers, fishermen, and hunters. From the leaves of the raffia palm they wove finely textured cloth, and they made lovely pottery and baskets, purely for utility.

They devised musical instruments and created an incredible variety of dances for religious ceremonials, for war preparations, or for celebrations and pleasure. They carved sculpture which Western experts would one day rank among the world's masterpieces. (Congolese masks and statuettes inspired Picasso and other modern artists.) They invented a drum carved out of a log, called a tom-tom, by which they could talk to neighboring villages. It was their telegraph.

They wore few clothes, for the Congo is a tropical country, but, like Europeans and Americans, they loved personal adornment. This took the form of fine tattoo markings on face and torso, and of war paint. they created an infinite number of elaborate headdresses and headgear, and forged brass necklaces and leg bands, also for beauty.

Their way of living was communal. they divided into tribes; there are some two hundred major ones. Lands were held in common for the benefit if all. private property was unknown. When disputes between tribes could not be settled by discussion, they fought wars, like people everywhere since time immemorial.

Customs and legends varied from tribe to tribe, with certain similarities. the belief in a supreme being, a life force, was widespread. Men were expected to pay a "bride price" to the parents of their future wives, the opposite of the European dowry. In most tribes it was normal for a man to have several wives. Strict obedience was expected of children. A few tribes were not averse to eating their enemies; indeed; they would denounce as barbarous the European wars where men killed even when they were not hungry.

In time, tribes grouped together to form kingdoms. one of these was the Kingdom of the Kongo, which stretched along Africa's western coast on both sides of the mouth of the Congo River. late in the fifteenth century, the King of the Kongo received a delegation of the oldest people any Congolese had ever seen. these strangers had light skins and black beards. They wore an astonishing amount of clothing.

The visitors came from Portugal. one of them was Diego Cão, a navigator who is credited with having discovered the Congo River in 1482. . . .